Monday, December 29, 2008

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name.

Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down.

It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers. That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual.

On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. 'Really?' she heard whispered. 'I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!' and, 'I didn't know others liked me so much,' were most of the comments.

No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another. That group of students moved on.

Several years later, one of the students was killed in

Vietnam and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. He looked so handsome, so mature.

The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin.

As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. 'Were you Mark's math teacher?' he asked. She nodded: 'yes.' Then he said: 'Mark talked about you a lot.'

After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher.

'We want to show you something,' his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket 'They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it.'

Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him.

'Thank you so much for doing that,' Mark's mother said. 'As you can see, Mark treasured it.'

All of Mark's former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, 'I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home.'

Chuck's wife said, 'Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album.'

'I have mine too,' Marilyn said. 'It's in my diary'

Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. 'I carry this with me at all times,' Vicki said and without batting an eyelash, she continued: 'I think we all saved our lists'

That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again. The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be.

So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and important. Tell them, before it is too late.

And One Way To Accomplish This Is: Forward this message on. If you do not send it, you will have, once again passed up the wonderful opportunity to do something nice and beautiful.

What if we all sent each person we know a note about what we like about them?

This was a quick impromptu attempt to make our evening special.First I sprayed the pan with cooking spray and dropped in the biscuits.Second I topped each with two tablespoons spaghetti sauce, parmesian cheese and slices of summer sausage.Finally, I baked following the directions on the biscuit package.

This morning I went a little wild! Our breakfast bake has 1 cup chorizo sausage, 1 can green beans, 5 eggs, 6 ounces colby cheese, 6 ounces cream cheese, chipolte seasoning and garlic and pepper seasoning. Now we sit and wait for it to bake. Waiting for it is almost traumatic!!!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Well, I already knew I needed to finish fencing our land as soon as the ground thawed. That was pretty much a given with the current status of the world. So, as I looked out the window to this early morning scene, I was renewed in my fervor.Now I have an improved plan. I will still use seven foot steel and concrete posts every four feet, but now plan to suppliment with four foot posts half way between. This way the posts will stop the vehicles as they slide on the ice in the alley!Also, I am thinking that I can keep the fence about two feet back from the propert line. Then I'll put in landscape blocks for a raised bed with robinhood and rugosa roses. The landscape blocks should act as a curb and, once the roses are fully grown, they will be inpenetrable.

Do you have a subteranium site that is very stable? A distant location to hide out for a few weeks?

How thoroughly have you checked out this plan?

I don't have a plan yet. I started one last year and realized how difficult it would be to get out of Joliet. Between broken down draw bridges and roads that flood, getting out did not look like much of a possibility! I either need to dig a serious bomb shelter or find a couple little used back roads.

My wipers went on strike! Had to break down and buy sub-zero wiper fluid! Could the mini ice age be starting already? The outdoor temp at work today got all the way up to 14.4 degrees F. It was like a heat wave!!!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Today there was a disturbing article in the Joliet Herald News stating that the leaders of Joliet have decided to cut all gambling profit monies for Morning Star Mission and Daybreak Shelter but continue the same monies for the Rialto Square Theater!

So... the City of Joliet feels that a building is more important than keeping PEOPLE fed and sheltered?

How do they sleep at night?

What will become of all the people loosing their jobs and their homes?

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Matthew is my son and I am so proud of him! He's only 7-years-old and has ADHD, OCD and bi-polar depression yet he was able to recycle enough aluminum to buy his own bike and a headlight/taillight set!

How great is it to be 7-years-old and own your own scrap metal business?! He really enjoys crushing and bagging his cans, but the best part is the weekly trip to Joliet Auto Parts (on Washington St.). Matt loads his cans in the trunk at home and unloads at the scale! Then he proudly takes his receipt into the business office and collects his money. Three tall kitchen bags of crushed cans will net him $5.00- 7.00.

Matt usually purchases one goodie (Gatorade) from the vending machine in the office, then puts about 1/2 in the bank and voluntarily contributes to gas for the car!

Don't you know someone with 'special needs' whom you could show a little more acceptance of? Could you encourage them to expand on their strong points?

We all have strong and weak points about us. Rather than preying on each other's weaknesses, what if we accepted each other for who we are? What if we found one honestly encouraging thing to say to every person we talk to?

What if that handicapped guy on the corner was your child... how would you want him to be treated?

Monday, November 17, 2008

We are living in very precarious times where anything could happen tomorrow. The weather is more unpredictable than ever and the political and economic state of our country is unstable. If you are stranded at work, will you have enough to eat?